At the HQCA, our mission and values focus on improving the quality and safety of health services for Albertans. This work involves engaging Albertans and listening to their experiences and voices, and we do this through a variety of means, including patient satisfaction and experience surveys, supportive living family and residents survey, and our Patient/Family Safety Advisory Panel.

The HQCA is proud to support the IMAGINE Project because of its grass-roots, citizen led focus on patient-first healthcare culture. This adds to the understanding of patient needs, experiences, and will enhance how we connect with Albertans.

Although the aim of The IMAGINE Project was to change the culture of the health professions and health system as they relate to the patient, it was always intended to be a grassroots initiative.

Following the launch of the project on January 22, 2015, the O’Brien Institute handed over the project reins to a new citizen-led committee, IMAGINE Citizens Collaborating for Health.

As part of this evolution, the O’Brien Institute continues to support IMAGINE through funding, by functioning as the initiative’s secretariat and by providing logistical and technical support to the citizens’ efforts. Many of the IMAGINE citizens, such as Dr. Ward Flemons and Adjunct Professor Gail McKean PhD, are also O’Brien Institute members.

Alberta Innovates Health Solutions (AIHS) provides leadership for Alberta’s health research and innovation enterprise and aims to work with partners in the health system to ensure innovation in care, policy and practice and that the needs of patients and clinicians influence research in the province. AIHS’s vision is to transform the health, health system and wellbeing of Albertans through research and innovation. Patient centred care and citizen engagement are important drivers of research and innovation and are supported by AIHS through Alberta SPOR (Strategy for Patient-Oriented Research) SUPPORT Unit’s Patient Engagement Platform and other initiatives.

AIHS is pleased to support the work of IMAGINE to effectively engage individual Albertans and citizen groups from around the province, and through that bring the patient perspective toward improving health care.

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Editor’s Note: Jim Mann is a person living with a diagnosis of dementia. He is a member of VOICES – a citizen committee that is an important part of the Canada-wide research program called Translating Research in Elder Care (TREC). On June 13, 2018, the whole TREC team spent at day in Edmonton. The group included researchers from across Canada, the U.S. and Sweden; policy-makers; research staff, leaders in long-term care facilities;
citizens with a diagnosis of dementia; and caregivers. The purpose of the day was to enhance the engagement of people affected by the disease in all aspects of research. Jim Mann told his story.

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We want your views, your stories and your suggestions. If you have a topic for discussion, a question for our polls or other questions for us, please fill out our contact form or email us at: info@imaginecitizens.ca